Race Result

Suzuki Castrol 1st, Yamaha Folch Second, Yamaha Austria 3rd, Kawasaki Bolliger 4th, Yamaha Phase One 5th. Full story to follow...

Hour 7 - Forty Minutes

Yamaha Phase One are suffering suspected engine problems, and have lost fourth place to Kawasaki Bolliger while pitting to diagnose the problem.

Hour 7 - Sixty Minutes

No change in the running order, but a splash and dash pit stop in the final hour could mean the difference between second and third place for Folch Endurance and Yamaha Austria.

The battle for sixth place is really hotting up, with Shell Endurance Academy, Diablo Kawasaki and the Sapeurs Pompiers all on the same lap and with less than twenty seconds separating them. The final hour will be a sprint to the line for these three teams.

Hour 6 - Two To Go

The race is becoming a game of strategy, as rival team managers attempt to calculate when and how many times their opponents will be forced to stop in the final hour of the race. With two hours still to go, the race is far from over…

Hour 5 - Three To Go

Suzuki Castrol are two laps clear in first place. Yamaha Folch and Yamaha Austria are on the same lap, Yamaha Phase One a lap behind in third, and Kawasaki Bolliger a further lap down in fourth place. Kawasaki Diablo, the Shell Endurance Academy and the Sapeurs Pompiers are on the same lap and still fighting for sixth place.

Three more teams have abandoned: Yamaha X-One, Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se, and Suzuki Polizei NRW.

Hour 4 - Sunset, Half Distance

The battle for podium positions behind Suzuki Castrol continues. Yamaha Folch, Yamaha Austria and Yamaha Phase One Endurance are closing in and falling behind as each team in turn stops for fuel.

Kawasaki Bolliger are holding fifth place, ahead of their sister team Diablo 666 in sixth. The Sapeurs Pompiers team have moved up to seventh, in front of Shell Endurance Academy, No Limits and Bridgestone Bikers Profi.

X-One Yamaha have pitted with a misfire and suspected electrical problem, dropping them out of the top ten.

Hour 3

Suzuki Castrol are holding first place comfortably. Yamaha Austria briefly moved into second place ahead of Yamaha Folch before slipping back to third. Phase One are in fourth place, Bolliger fifth and Shell Endurance Academy sixth.

Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se had been challenging for fifth place before an electrical problem left Paul Young pushing in, dropping the team to twenty first place.

The Motociclismo Aprilia has crashed heavily but is back out on track. A team spokesman said, "The rider is ok, but the bike's forks were smashed, the fairing and exhaust gone… it's a tragedy". The team are currently circulating in 22nd place.

Three teams have retired: Suzuki Austria, Folch (2) and Wurth Honda.

Hour 2

After the second round of pitstops and around one and a quarter hours of racing, Suzuki Castrol have a lead of 1:29 seconds over Yamaha Folch; almost but not quite a lap. Suzuki Castrol team manager Dominique Meliand: "Kitagawa is faster than the Folch rider, and we are 20 seconds faster in a a pit stop."

Yamaha Phase One Endurance have moved up to third, seven seconds behind Folch and 23 seconds ahead of Yamaha Austria. Phase One's Damian Cudlin: "There's a heap of traffic out there and it's just a big risk to pass people."

Further down the order, the Shell Endurance Academy are catching the Kawasaki Diablo and Suzuki Fagersjo battle, Italian team No Limits, Fabi Corse and X-One are locked together in a fight for tenth place, and the Motociclismo Aprilia is holding 17th place - behind Ducati Spring Team but ahead of the Burger King Lust MV Agusta.

Start and Hour 1

The first hour of the Albacete 8 Horas Nocturnas has delivered a fantastic battle between Yamaha Folch Endurance's Daniel Ribalta and Suzuki Castrol's Vincent Philippe. Folch led the first 8 laps, Suzuki Castrol the next 6… with the pair rarely separated by more than a second. Yamaha Austria's Gwen Giabbani settled into third place, while Kawasaki Bolliger's Kellenberger and Yamaha Phase One's Nowland fought over fourth place. Behind these two was another fight, this time between Kawasaki Diablo's Hutchens and Suzuki Fagersjo's Young for sixth place. Once again, the pair were rarely separated by more than a fraction of a second.

Diablo were one of the first teams to pit, followed by Phase One, almost losing all the advantage over Bolliger that they had built up when the bike would not start on the button. Bolliger pitted next, with an ultra slick stop, and then Folch. Suzuki Castrol and Yamaha Austria pitted on the same lap; the 20 second gap between them resulting in a near collision as the Suzuki left its pit at the same time as the Yamaha arrived at the adjacent pit.

After the first round of stops, the top six are Suzuki Castrol, Yamaha Folch, Yamaha Austria, Yamaha Phase One, Kawasaki Bolliger and Kawasaki Diablo.

First faller of the race was Suzuki Austria, a crash by Sandor Bitter dropping the team to 25th place.